


True

by sipa198



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, F/F, also the rest of the team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:48:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22684996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sipa198/pseuds/sipa198
Summary: When US Soccer found Mal, they knew she was their next prodigy. Then they discover she's a true omega, and they hatch a plan. They're determined for Mal to become the future of the USWNT at whatever cost. But when Tobin, Christen, Kelley, Alex and the rest of the team discover the now frowned upon methods US Soccer is using with Mal to keep her at that level, there's no force on Earth that could stop them protecting the baby of the team from US Soccer's clutches.
Relationships: Alex Morgan/Kelley O'Hara, Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger, Lindsey Horan/Emily Sonnett, Tobin Heath/Christen Press
Comments: 25
Kudos: 189





	1. Chapter 1

It starts at 18 for most – almost everyone, in fact.

Almost.

In the months leading up to it, some people get an idea about what they’ll present as. A feeling, an urge. Some people have no clue.

And then, there were people like Mallory Pugh.

Mal didn’t have to wait until she was 18 to find out who she was. She’s known, viscerally known, since she was 13 years old.

It happened at her third youth national team camp. She’ll never know why, but one minute she was in the midst of a heated tackle with another player, and the next she was on the ground, twitching, being rushed to the medical staff.

_“An omega.”_

_“No, not just an omega. A true omega. The kind we almost never see. No wonder she’s presented so young.”_

_“It’s a shame. I heard she was going to be one of the youth system’s biggest projects. She’s the youngest here by two years but already one of the best. But she’ll never make it out there in competition as a true omega. She’ll be too vulnerable on the field.”_

_“Unless there’s a way to suppress that.”_

Mal remembers laying on the bed in the room with the doctors, her eyes closed, listening in on their conversation, trying to figure out what they were talking about. A true omega? She’d never even heard of that. She’d always thought maybe she would be an omega, but there wasn’t anything bad about that. She could still live out her dreams of making it to the USWNT. Some of their best players were omegas.

But the way the doctors were discussing between themselves made it seem like true omegas wouldn’t be able to make it. What made true omegas different to normal omegas? Was it what had just happened on the field? How her own body took her down because she got too overwhelmed by the presence of others on the field?

She soon found out, because the u-17 coach stormed into the room, looking for answers. She was a strong alpha, the kind no one on the field messed with. The coach heard the words ‘true omega’ and growled out loud.

Mal been in the presence of many alphas growling before, but something had irreversibly changed in her today. The growl shook her to her core, somehow knowing it was about her and feeling the anger seep into her. She whimpered, her eyes flinging open, her body curling in on itself. She’d never so viscerally reacted like this.

The doctors had rushed over, both omegas, both pumping out soothing pheromones. Mal had also never felt the comfort of pheromones this strong before, it was like everything was heightened.

She heard the doctors talking to the coach, talking about how no true omegas had ever made it to the national team, how it would be impossible for Mal but maybe not with suppressants – strong ones – if US Soccer was serious about their investment in her. The suppressants would have to be constant. Her coach had said they were serious, Mal was going to be the future face of the USWNT and they were preparing her now for that. They wouldn’t throw their plans away.

Mal would be the future and they wouldn’t let biology get in the way of it. It seemed noble, almost, to support an omega this much when they were occasionally looked over in favor of alphas. But as time would tell, US Soccer’s plans with Mal weren’t in her interests at all, and only profited them. 

|-|-|-|-|

US Soccer got their wish. At 17 years old, Mal Pugh broke into the USWNT, the youngest player ever. She had already raked in an immense amount of viewers and notoriety to the youth teams she played on. She wasn't disappointing, she was phenomenal. She was touted as the next big thing, the future of the USWNT, and they weren’t wrong.

It had only been a matter of time before she was called into a camp, and it was the January camp of 2016. US Soccer had brokered a deal with Mal’s parents when she was first discovered to be a true omega. They’d convinced them to place her on suppressants, dull her scent so much that it wouldn’t be noticeable what she was, even when she was supposed to “present” at age 18.

Her lack of a scent had made everyone assume she was going to be a beta, and she operated under that presumption. She was nearing age 18 and as her scent was dulled showing no signs of alpha or omega, people assumed she would be a beta.

US Soccer knew the suppressants they had Mal under were frowned upon. Not illegal, but definitely frowned upon. In this day and age there was a growing feeling in society that suppressants shouldn’t be used, especially not on kids, as everyone should be free to be themselves. So they kept the arrangement to themselves. No one but Mal, her parents, and a select few US Soccer officials knew, not even any of Mal’s coaches.

Mal didn’t love the arrangement. She could feel how the suppressants were dulling her. But this was her dream, being on the USWNT. If this was the only way she’d be able to do it, so be it. And she was so young when it started, she didn’t know better. Her parents were happy with the financial compensation US Soccer provided them with, as well.

US Soccer had said the agreement they made with Mal’s parents when she was 13 was that they could keep upping her suppressants if they were no longer effective in her environment. Sometimes the suppressants tired Mal out so much she didn’t know how she could take more. Each time she moved up an age level, she always prayed her body would adjust, and she wouldn’t have to take a higher dosage, or worse, an injection.

Mal had always been surrounded by strong people, strong omegas and strong alphas. Athletes were some of the strongest presences out there. Mal had thought joining the u-20s would be tough, that maybe her suppressants wouldn’t be enough. But they were, they always had been.

That was, until she joined the USWNT.

|-|-|-|-|

“Did Jill just say Mal was most likely a _beta_?” Tobin whispers to Christen, her true mate, half way through the first meeting of camp. The youngest member of the squad had just been brought up to the front and introduced by the coach. Tobin had noticed how she looked mildly terrified, shaking like a leaf while still trying to put on a smile.

Jill had given the stern word to the team, instructing every single one of them to keep an eye on Mal. Tobin had stared curiously at Mal as she was introduced as most likely a beta. She hadn’t reached age 18, the age to present, yet. But there was something off to Tobin, about the conclusion that Mal would be a beta. Mal’s scent didn’t indicate to that of a beta. It wasn’t that of an alpha, either, and she was pretty sure it wasn’t an omega. Not like any she’d encountered before, anyway.

“Yeah, she did.” Christen whispers back. “Does that seem right?”

So Christen felt it too. Tobin didn’t notice anyone else twist their heads in confusion when Mal was introduced as a likely beta, only her and Christen. Why are they the only two who feel something off about the situation?

Tobin intends to talk to Christen about it later, but she doesn’t get the chance. They’re told to stay in their seats while room assignments are being read out. Kelley complains loudly when she realizes she’s not being roomed with Alex, her mate, and Dawn rolls her eyes, telling Kelley she knows they don’t put mates together, and she really needs to stop complaining every single camp.

Instead, Kelley grumbles, and practically crawls into Alex’s lap.

“Kelley, behave yourself.” Alex warns with a grin just as Kelley buries her head into her neck. 

Tobin shakes her head at Kelley and laughs, all the while looking at Mal. The young player still has the unsettled look on her face, though she manages to crack a laugh at the team. Christen gets roomed with Julie, the two omegas always enjoying each other’s friendship, and then Tobin hears her name read out with Mal.

Tobin sends Mal her best friendly, reassuring smile. She doesn’t miss the way Mal gets a terrified look in her eye for a split second before she plasters a smile on her face. For the second time that day, both Tobin and Christen feel something off about the young one. They feel a protective pull, as if she was asking for help but couldn’t figure out how. They don’t know what’s wrong, but they know something isn’t right.

From beside her, Tobin can sense Christen is getting distressed. If she’s honest, she feels it too. Tobin wraps her arm around her mate, keeping her close to comfort her. Beside Christen, Sonnett looks over as she feels Christen’s change in mood. Before that causes a chain reaction of the entire team, Jill calls the meeting over. The team is instructed to head back to their rooms before training later that day.

“I don’t want to scare her off.” Tobin worries to Christen quietly as they collect their things. “She looked terrified. I don’t usually affect betas, but she’s still so young. Maybe she would be better with an omega?”

“You won’t, honey. You’re the kindest person I know.” Christen kisses Tobin, stroking her cheek reassuringly. “Be yourself, and be a friend to her. Something’s happening to her, and we need to make sure she’s okay.”

|-|-|-|-|

Tobin was a strong alpha, a powerful one. She always had been. She wasn’t a true alpha, those kinds almost never existed, but her presence in any room had always been easily found. Over her years she had developed a quiet, laid back attitude. She found it helped balance out the pheromones in the room, if she just chilled out, went with the flow, was easy going.

She knew that new people, people who weren’t familiar with her scent were sometimes cagey around her. But that wasn’t what Mal was, Mal was a step above cagey. When they got their room assignments, Mal had stuck around, waiting until basically everyone had left the meeting before walking to their room. Tobin had been in there a full five minutes before Mal had entered.

“Hey, Mal. How’s it going?” Tobin tries to send her best welcoming and relaxed smile, sending out protective pheromones to the terrified 17 year old. All she is met with is wide eyes, a shaky smile, and a squeaky “Good” in reply.

Before she is able to think about what to say in response, Mal drops her luggage by her bed, grabs her soccer gear and takes off out of the room again.

Tobin can’t help but feel downtrodden. She hadn’t meant to scare her off, and in fact, she thought she’d done everything she could to be as least threatening as possible. She ponders what happened for a few more minutes, before getting her training gear as well, ready to head downstairs for the bus.

When she steps out of their room, Christen is there waiting, and she gives Tobin one look before immediately hugging her, burying her head into her neck. She sends Tobin calming, loving pheromones, kissing the mate mark on her neck as she hums softly, trying to cheer an obviously hurt Tobin up.

“She barely looked at me, Chris.”

“Just give her time, baby. She’s probably overwhelmed. She hasn’t presented yet, she’s in an environment where everyone is already comfortable with each other and everyone has strong scents, not just you. This isn’t your fault. She’ll settle in, it’ll be okay.”

Tobin had wanted to believe Christen. But the days that followed showed Mal was not settling in. In fact, it seemed to be the opposite.

Mal barely spent longer with the team than when she had to. She ate meals insanely fast, and left the room again straight after, if they had bonding she seemed to stick close to Rose and Sam, or Pinoe and Crystal, the betas on the team she was drawn to, and apart to sleep, she was _never_ in the room when Tobin was.

Each day that passed she seemed to be getting more uncomfortable. She often looked like she was breathing through her mouth, not her nose. She cowered whenever anyone raised their voice too loud. She almost cried when Kelley had jumped out from behind the elevator, scaring her.

She trained like she had a point to prove, though. She never backed down from any challenge, she was 110% focused, she absolutely ate up the team in the beep test. The 17 year old was on fire on the field, but everyone could sense something was wrong, especially Tobin and Christen. They all yearned to help the young one, but they could see she would immediately shut down if they tried.

Tobin had attempted to keep her distance, despite all the protective urges in her screaming to do the opposite. Christen, as well, had to stow away her nurturing instincts towards Mal and let the girl be.

“We’re here if you ever need anything, Mal.”

“Don’t be afraid, little one. We’re here for you.”

Both Tobin and Christen, along with their other teammates, had said these words and variations of them to Mal for the first four days of camp. The night before their rest day, Tobin had spent half the night awake trying to come up with a plan to help Mal, to get her to trust her.

She could hear the little one whimpering in her sleep, tossing and turning. Tobin tried to pick the scent again, she was _sure_ it wasn’t that of a beta, but she didn’t know what it could be. She’d never come across it before. She remembers talking to Pinoe about it as well, and Pinoe had echoed her sentiments, that this was not a beta like she had encountered. Tobin just knew that she felt a protective pull to Mal, more than she’d ever felt before.

She had decided. She would wake up before Mal, get Christen to come to the room and calm the place down, make Mal feel comfortable and they could all get food together and they could talk.

Except, she never gets that chance. At 6am, a knock on their door wakes both Mal and Tobin up. Mal darts awake, looking around with worried eyes.

“It’s okay, Mal, I’m here.” Tobin says the words, even though she’s sure they don’t bring any comfort to Mal, since she seems to be more scared of her than anyone else. She soon finds out how wrong she is, though.

She swings the door open to see one person with the demeanor of a doctor, and one US Soccer official. Tobin thinks she recognizes the US Soccer official, but she doesn’t get the chance to dwell on it, because she immediately feels the fear and anxiety pouring out of the young girl behind her.

On instinct, a low growl leaves her mouth directed at the two people behind the door, knowing their presence has something to do with Mal’s reactions. She tries to control herself, seeing the surprised look on the official’s face – he must be another alpha, and the slightly uncomfortable look on the doctor’s face – he must be an omega.

She doesn’t invite them in, but listens to them as they say they’re here to take Mal for the day, on official health business. Tobin looks at Mal who looks back at her with those same scared eyes, and she really has no idea what to think.

“Why are you here so early?”

The official laughs, trying to diffuse the obvious tension, though when he speaks, he has a tone of authority. “We’ve got a lot to get through, and this is the only rest day for a while. We’re only checking how camp is treating Mallory. It’s merely because she is still under 18. We’re doing this for her wellbeing. Nothing to worry about, Tobin.”

Tobin’s alpha isn’t affected in the slightest by the official’s attempt at the use of authority. She’s much stronger than he is. But perhaps he was right, there hadn’t been anyone as young as Mal at camp since long before Tobin ever joined the team. Maybe this was protocol for them, and Mal’s reaction was really just par the course of the last four days for her. She was scared of everything.

She figures saying no to them on behalf of Mal, a girl who hasn’t yet said more than 4 words in a row to her and who she doesn’t really know at all, would be stupid, and would probably get Mal in trouble. Not to mention it would only increase Tobin’s reputation with US Soccer as a too powerful alpha that needs to control her emotions.

She doesn’t feel happy about her decision, but it’s still so early, and so she takes a step back, clearly indicating she would no longer be standing in their way. She hears Mal whimper when she does so, and she decides to give her one last chance.

“Mal, tell me now, do you want to go with these people? If you say no, I’ll help you. But you’ve got to talk to me, kid. I don’t know what’s going on, otherwise.”

She tries, but all Mal does when approaches her is whimper again, shying away. Tobin takes a breath to save her frustration from rising and decides she’s done enough. It was US Soccer, they wouldn’t actually hurt Mal. She is their prodigy player, their entire financial and on-field success for the future rests on her shoulders, everyone knows that.

Mal eventually gathers her things, still with those wide scared eyes, still blasting out that unfamiliar scent. She walks out the door, and the last thing Tobin sees is her tiny figure dwarfed by the doctor and the official on either side of her.

Tobin sighs in frustration, pulling her hands over her face. She knows she’ll have better luck with Christen there, talking to Mal, but she guesses she’ll have to wait until tonight to find out what was really going on. She tells Christen about it when she sees her later, and they both agree they’ll talk to her later.

What they don’t anticipate, is the Mal they encounter when she enters the room again at 8pm that night, looking drowsy and dopey and hardly able to keep her eyes open at all.

“Mal, what happened to you?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for such great feedback on the first chapter! I would have liked to get this one out a little earlier than I did but here it is anyways :) Let me know what you think and what you'd like to see :)

Tobin can sense immediately that Christen is distressed, but her true mate pushes it aside, so concerned for the baby of the team who had entered the room in such a state. Christen makes slow movements to get up as to not scare Mal off, pumping out as many calming pheromones as she can.

“Little one, can you look at me?” Christen asks in a comforting voice, doing her best to be non-threatening. She doesn’t expect Mal to respond to her, why would she start now after days of avoiding them?

But something is different, now. This Mal is weak, and clearly not on top of her defenses. She looks like she’s been doped full of chemicals, and Christen and Tobin share a horrified look, realizing there is a strong possibility that actually has happened.

“Mal, can you say something?” At this point, Christen isn’t even sure Mal would know her own name, let alone anyone else’s. She’s barely able to function, almost crashing into the bed before Christen grabs her arm to steady her.

Instead of whimpering and shying away, Mal leans into Christen’s touch. With her steady and close, Christen manages to get a good look at how glassy and dazed Mal’s eyes were. She asks Mal to say something, and hears the tiniest “Christen” in response.

“Mal, what happened to you?” Tobin asks from the bed, scooting close to the end of it but not getting up to stand beside Christen, just in case Mal freaked out.

Mal doesn’t respond to Tobin, but instead just looks at Christen with those same out of it eyes.

“Mal, did you take something?” Christen asks to confirm her suspicions. When Mal nods, she asks again. “Did you want to take it?”

A shake of the head no. Christen holds in a whine at the obvious hurt Mal has gone through that day.

“Did those people this morning make you take it?”

A nod yes.

Tobin can’t help it. The anger shoots out of her, both directed at US Soccer and at herself for letting them take Mal that morning. She’s so shocked by what she’s heard that she forgets to limit herself, and both Christen and Mal feel the impact of it.

Christen is used to Tobin’s pheromones and scent, and while the anger coming from her true mate unsettles her, she can feel the root cause of it. Her neck twitches, but she doesn’t have a reaction further to that.

The same can’t be said for Mal.

It’s the first time she’s done anything since getting back to the room that gives any indication she’s still in there, under all the suppressants. Unfortunately, it’s not a good reaction, and Christen can tell what’s going to happen from the look on her face.

She rushes Mal into the bathroom, helping her make it to the toilet before she throws up, both Tobin’s reaction and the strongest suppressants she’s ever taken not mixing well inside her. Throwing up knocks the wind out of her, and she near collapses against Christen again as she hauls herself up, cleaning out her mouth.

“Tobin, stop. Control yourself.” Christen warns as Tobin approaches the bathroom door. She turns back to Mal and coos softly to her, murmuring comforts over and over to try and calm her. “Shhh, little one, you’re okay. You’re okay.”

Christen tries her best to focus on the task at hand. It’s hard though, Mal’s distress is through the roof and Tobin’s pheromones are bordering out of control. She feels the protectiveness of them so strongly, she feels how angry Tobin is at what has happened to Mal. But the mixing pheromones are making the bathroom a choked environment. Christen needs to be as focused as she can on Mal, and they definitely need other help in here.

“Baby, please.” Christen looks at Tobin, willing her to step out of the bathroom. She thought about what she could ask the alpha to distract her momentarily from the cloud of emotions she was in and an idea hit. “Get the others in here, okay? This is bigger than us now.”

Eventually Tobin nods, pushing herself away from the bathroom to find her phone. Christen visibly exhales, and Mal lurches out of her arms, throwing up into the toilet again before completely sagging back against the older omega.

“Shhh, shhh. You’re safe. We’re here, you’re safe.” Christen gathers Mal into her arms as the young one curls right into her, right on her lap. Her head burrows into Christen’s neck, and Christen feels her breathing in her scent like it’s the only thing keeping her there. She holds her close, thinking about how much Mal’s actions resemble that of an omega pup, and decides to try something.

Pumping out comfort pheromones specifically attuned to omegas, she envelopes Mal in her scent, the low vibrations of her calm murmurs finishing the effect. The young one reacts strongly to it, almost purring as she slowly calms down, her sweaty face pressed right to the skin of Christen’s neck, feeling comforted by the contact skin on skin contact.

Christen had always suspected something was off about Mal being a beta, and now she’s all but proved to herself the young girl had to be an omega. No one else would react like that. But Mal’s scent wasn’t that of an omega. So what was she?

Christen knows it wouldn’t be long before the others got to the room, and that would only work Mal up more, even though they needed the support of the team. She has to try and get some information out of Mal now, before she loses her chance.

“Mal, angel, I need you to be honest with me, okay? Can you do that for me?” She speaks in her most calm, non-threatening voice, feeling Mal nod against her neck. With the way Christen was wrapping Mal in comfort at that point, she feels like Mal would have agreed to anything she said.

“Are you a beta?”

A shake of the head no. “Good girl. You’re doing so well.” Christen rubs circles on Mal’s back. “Are you an omega, little one?”

There is a bit of hesitancy, before there is a nod of the head yes. Christen suspected she was going to hear that Mal was an omega, and she really didn’t know what she’d do with that information, because she didn’t believe it. But then Mal hesitated before nodding, as if she was saying _technically_ I am, but not how you think.

It was like a lightbulb clicked in her brain. If Mal confirmed her suspicion, it would all make sense. Mal wasn’t frightened of everyone because she was so young and new, she was being assaulted by pheromones from every angle from high powered and full force adult athletes. She’d been sharing a room with one of the strongest alphas on the team. She’d clearly been doped with suppressants, so much that her scent changed entirely. And today US Soccer had doped her with more, probably stronger ones.

“Mal, are you a true omega?”

Mal had barely gotten a nod out against her neck when figures appeared behind them, gasping at what they heard.

“Mal’s a true omega?!”

Christen doesn’t know how many people in the team had entered the room at that point. But as soon as Sonnett’s exclamation is voiced, the entire atmosphere shifts. Christen feels the shock in the air, and also the protectiveness that increases tenfold towards the young one in her arms at the realization.

Mal lets out a sob and curls into Christen more, almost as if she wants to disappear. Christen wraps her arms around her tighter as she rocks her, keeping her comforting murmurs and pheromones focused on her.

The team is so frazzled by the news, so unexpected and rare as it is, that the commotion quickly becomes all too much. The alphas in the room are blasting out protective pheromones, some aggressive ones too – feeling their omegas get distressed at Mal’s news and knowing how Mal was hurt by US Soccer. The omegas are having a hard time balancing it all.

Christen’s mood starts to shift, and by the time she’s looked up to see those crowding around the bathroom door her demeanor is one of absolute no-nonsense.

“All of you, stop!” She orders, the protectiveness in her omega silencing even the strongest alphas. Mal is being affected so strongly by the commotion, and she needs to be in a calm place. “She’s just a pup.”

Everyone’s attention immediately switches to Mal at that point, and they realize how dire her state of distress is. In the silence of the room they can hear the tiny whimpers leaving her mouth and it tugs at every single person in the room, all of them itching to help but not sure how given Christen’s protective nature.

“Sonnett, Kelley, and Ali, get in here.” Christen says after a while, and the omegas rush into the bathroom properly, leaving their alphas and Pinoe, the beta, by the door. Christen’s eyes meet Tobin, her true mate, and they share a look, Christen conveying why she won’t let the alphas in the room right then. She can see Tobin wants nothing more than to be able to be in there with them, but she understands that what Mal needs is an omega’s comfort, not an alpha’s presence.

“Stay close.” Christen murmurs, loud enough that Tobin hears and nods, moving a step closer into the main room but still being visible through the bathroom door.

As soon as it’s only omegas in the bathroom, Christen lets out the first calm sigh of the night, taking a deep breath in and feeling Mal do the same against her.

“Good girl, Mal. Deep breaths, nice and slow.”

Christen keeps rubbing circles on Mal’s back as she nods her head for the other omegas to sit down close to them. Ali sits on one side of her, Kelley on the other where Mal is curled up against her, and Sonnett in front of her. She can feel all of them pressing down their distress, bringing comfort and calm pheromones to the forefront in order to get Mal to a place where she wasn’t so worked up she might pass out.

It’s a long while later that Mal’s tears finally stop, and Christen counts the seconds in between her breaths before she’s happy Mal’s heart beat has gotten back to a regular rhythm. She’s bursting with love that a little bit ago Sonnett had gently reached out her hand to Mal and Mal had accepted it, gripping it tightly. Mal has also let Kelley and Ali put comforting touches on her.

Christen has never met a true omega. When she first found out about Mal, she wondered if that was the reason they couldn’t figure out what she was, because she was unfamiliar with it. But now, over the course of time being in the bathroom with Mal, and with the other omegas – though Mal’s true scent was still heavily sedated by all the suppressants – she was starting to notice a hint of Mal’s true scent poking through.

The smell makes her smile, like it’s full of the happiest things in the world. It’s glorious. They always learn that true omegas represent everything that was good and pure in the world. They needed to be protected at all costs. Christen can feel the anger sitting inside her that anyone would ever lay a hand on the baby of the team.

“Hi, little one.” Christen murmurs, breaking the silence of the room and getting the attention of Mal who tilted her head up towards her. “Can you tell us how you’re feeling?”

She can see the consciousness come back into Mal’s eyes slowly, perhaps something of a realization of what has happened that night. Mal seems to shrink back into herself slightly, before she answers in a tiny whisper. “I’m okay.”

“Good girl.” Christen praises. She senses getting information out of Mal may be quite difficult but she knows this is something they need to deal with now, before US Soccer can inflict any more harm onto her. The haziness in her eyes from before is gone, and while she looks completely overwhelmed and distressed still, she seems more like herself. She must have thrown the suppressants up before they could all fully take hold.

“You’re doing so well. And we’re all here for you. You know you can trust us with anything, Mal.”

Mal nods her head and it makes everyone in the room give a quiet sigh in relief. This was a good step.

Christen can feel Tobin from the other room, how her mate itches to be with her and to help out. She feels bad for exiling the alphas to the bedroom and away from the bathroom but Mal was in no state before to be around such dominant personalities.

Now, though, that she’s calmer, she could try.

“Mal,” Christen begins cautious, not wanting to make Mal feel uncomfortable. “How do you feel about coming back into the main room? We’ll all be with you.”

A few tense seconds of silence passed before Mal nods her head, and again a collective sigh of relief is breathed out from the room. Everyone knows they’ll feel better when reunited with their mates, and they’ll be able to discuss a plan to move forward.

“Please stay with me.” Mal’s tiny voice speaks up, and Christen pulls her back into a hug and tells her she won’t leave her side.

It’s clear the others heard they were coming back in, because a direct path to Mal’s bed is made out, no alphas or Pinoe in the way of them. Christen stays with Mal, sitting beside her on the edge of the bed with Ali on Mal’s other side, Sonnett beside her. Alex is sitting opposite them on the edge of Tobin’s bed and Kelley goes over to her, sitting on her lap and feeling Alex nuzzle her mating mark, placing a kiss over it on her neck.

Tobin is sitting next to Alex on the bed, Lindsey next to her, and Ash and Pinoe are right next to it on some chairs. Christen still has her arm wrapped around Mal, and the young omega has her eyes trained on the floor, not daring to look up.

Tobin looks to Christen, who stares back just as helpless. They send looks to their other team mates, and all eyes eventually end up at Pinoe, who rolls her eyes at all of them for making her start the conversation.

“Mal, we need to talk to you about this. If that’s okay with you.” Pinoe starts, knowing her beta status shouldn’t affect Mal at all, despite her being a true omega. “Can you look up at me, little one?”

Mal raises her head, tears swimming in her eyes but not falling, and Pinoe gives her a proud smile as Christen pulls her closer from where her arm is wrapped around her shoulders.

“You’re a true omega.” Pinoe starts, seeing Mal nod. “When did you present?”

“13.” Mal’s answer sends shock around the room, all of them knowing that technically you could present at any age but none of them ever knowing someone who presented younger than 18, much less 13.

“And where did it happen?”

“At a u-17 camp.”

“You were in u-17 camps when you were 13?”

“Ash, not the point.” Ali sends a look to her alpha, almost wanting to roll her eyes at Ashlyn’s predictable behavior of getting excited at awe inducing news. She loves her for it, though.

“Right, sorry.”

“I’m guessing US Soccer has been involved right from that point?” Pinoe starts her questions again, seeing Mal nod. “Can you remember what they did about it?”

“I…” Mal struggles to think back, trying her best to remember. Everyone in the room sends her calming pheromones, trying to let her know it was okay, just do her best. “They were invested in me. They knew no true omega had ever made it in professional soccer. But they had found me young. They said they could control it. Suppress it. They said…they said they could control genetics.”

At that, a growl comes out of Tobin’s mouth, and Christen sends a sharp look to her alpha again. She knows Tobin is angry, hell, she herself is _furious_. But when Mal hears the growl she recoils. It takes a few minutes of reassurances from Christen and the other omegas around to convince Mal to keep going.

“I’m sorry, Mal. I’m not angry at you, I promise. I’m angry at them.” Tobin’s voice is the most soft and low threatening Christen has heard it in a while, and she knows her mate is trying to show Mal she can trust her. Mal sends her a tiny smile, and Tobin’s heart soars that the little one who is beginning to feel more and more like a pup to her every minute seems to be okay with her.

“They gave me suppressants. To take every day. It dulls the scent, confuses people. I think.” Mal sees nods around her, and knows everyone thought she was a beta. “They up the dosage when I need it, when I move up age levels. But when I came here, none of the pills worked. Everyone was too strong, the pheromones were too powerful. And today…today they-they…”

“Mal, it’s okay. Take a break.” Ali says, sensing Mal was on the verge of another break down. They let the silence sit for a while as they mull over the information.

“Have you spoken to your parents about this?” Kelley asks, somewhat apprehensive to hear the answer. She soon finds out she’s right to be, because the answer Mal gives is so sad it only strengthens the protectiveness they feel for the girl.

“I haven’t. They…they would just say to listen to US Soccer. That’s what they’ve always said. I don’t see them that much. I was with the u20s so much last year, and now I’m here. I know they’re my parents, but they don’t side with me. They side with the federation. But mostly they side with the money the federation pays them.”

Ali leans close against Mal, pressing into her side as Christen cuddles her other side. No one really knows what to say to that. Mal spoke with such lifeless eyes.

They were all rapidly realizing they were really only scratching the surface of the hurt that this pup had been through.

“Does anyone know about this?”

Mal shook her head no at Pinoe’s question. She lifted her head up and met Lindsey’s eyes for the first time that night, not being able to hold her gaze on the alpha with all the emotions that were swimming in her eyes.

“Mal, I…I can’t believe I didn’t know about this.” Lindsey spoke with a sadness so strong that Sonnett got up from the bed, curling up in Lindsey’s lap and whining in comfort to her mate. “We played for so long in the 20s. I know you were always a bit reserved, but I didn’t think…I couldn’t have ever thought they’d be doing this to you. What the fuck kind of people are they?”

“Linds, shhh, you’re okay. We’re here for her now.” Tobin murmured, placing a hand of comfort on the younger alpha’s shoulder. She could see how the tears were streaming down Mal’s face when Lindsey spoke. The news was hitting all of them extremely hard.

“Surely we have to tell someone. Jill…I don’t know.”

Half the people in the room snorted, and even Sonnett didn’t seem like she believed in her own statement that much.

“For all we know, Jill would just side with the federation.” Ali said, not having much faith in their coach.

“Dawn wouldn’t. She’d tear the place down if she ever found out about this.” Pinoe said to the agreement of the rest of the room.

“You can’t tell anyone.” Mal’s distress had shot back up and she was frantically shaking her head. “Please, you can’t. They…they would do something. And they’d kick me off the team. You can’t, you can’t!”

A sound of unease left Christen’s lips before she could stop herself, even as she took Mal back into her arms to rock the near hysterical girl. The rest of the omegas made similar whines of displeasure, their pheromones being set off which only in turn set off the alphas in the room.

“It’s okay, little one, it’s okay. We won’t say anything, we promise. You’re here with us and you’re safe. We won’t leave your side.” Christen repeated over and over, breathing in deeply and encouraging Mal to do the same.

By the time the young one had calmed down, she was near passed out in Christen’s arms, so overcome from the exhaustion and toll on her body. She refused to let go of Christen when the older woman tried to encourage her to lie down, and so she was sagging against her bit by bit, her eyes getting closer to closing.

If it wasn’t such unfortunate circumstances, Christen could have almost laughed and awed at the protective way all the alphas in the room reacted when Mal let out a little shiver, goosebumps showing up on her arms. They were like mothers to their pup, all of them.

Ash sat up in her chair, Lindsey and Alex looked around them but Tobin was closer to Mal and faster, slipping off her own hoodie and slowly, slowly, moving towards the young girl with it. Christen calmed the air around them, wanting Mal to accept Tobin’s help and not be scared of her, because this would be so much easier if the young girl let herself be cared by the alphas too. She wanted Mal to see that not all of them were bad, or would mistreat her the way she had been.

Thankfully, Mal seemed to have accepted that Tobin and the rest of the alphas were there to help and protect her. She pulled the hoodie on, letting Tobin adjust the hood when it fell over her head and brush some of her hair out of her face.

“There you go, little one.” Tobin basically purred, her heart soaring at the way Mal leaned into her touch. “We’re right here for you. I’ll never let them take you away again, okay? Never.”

Mal nodded, letting the comfort from Christen and Tobin’s touch settle over her until she slumped properly against Christen, out like a light.

“Well, fuck.” Pinoe said out loud a few minutes later, basically the understatement of the year. “As if I couldn’t mistrust this federation more.”

“This is so fucked.” Alex said, shaking her head as she tried to wrap her mind around all they’d heard. “What are we going to do?”

“No idea.” Tobin said, still close to Mal, still soothing her in her sleep. “But whatever it is, we’re not letting those monsters get close to her again.”

“What’s going to happen to her without those suppressants, though? She’s been killing it at trainings, but it’s clearly taking a toll on her. She must have been expending all her energy into blocking out the pheromones when we practiced, so much so that every other team environment was too upsetting for her omega. That’s why she always looked like she was about to bolt or burst into tears or both.”

“Kelley’s right.” Ali nodded. “If she can’t handle being around this team on the suppressants she’s on now, what is she going to do? It’s obvious why US Soccer tried to put her on the stronger suppressants today. But it’s unnatural to her body, that’s why it rejected it. She’s so young, and her omega is so pure. She can only take so much, and she’s at her limit.”

“So what, the answer is that she just can’t be on this team? She can keep up, she’s beating most of us at training. We just need to figure out how to help her so that she can survive being around everyone else outside of that. She deserves to be here, it’s not fair that she has to miss out.”

“Lindsey, baby, shhh.” Sonnett purred into her mate, cooling her temper. She wrapped her arms around her neck, curling her hands into her hair. “It’s okay, my love.” 

“I agree, it wouldn’t be fair if that was the answer.” Christen nodded. “I have no idea how it works with true omegas. But I know that there’s always an element of training involved for omegas like us. We can learn to withstand pheromones, learn to block things out. It’ll be hard for Mal, maybe near impossible. But look at how much she’s gone through already. She deserves to be given the chance, and we can help her. We have to try.”

The rest of the room nodded, all committed to seeing this through with the baby of the team.

“We’ll figure out how to move forward with this tomorrow. For now, this stays between us. The rest of the team should know, but we can’t tell them without Mal’s permission. As for the coaching staff, not a word. We’ll keep an eye on Dawn, see if she gets suspicious.” Pinoe directed, the beta guiding the group to everyone’s relief.

Slowly they all made their way out of the room, each mate pairing sticking close to each other, everyone exhausted by the bombardment of pheromones that had gone on that night. Some of them left protective touches on Mal’s head when they went past, leaving soft murmurs of comfort with the three remaining in the room.

When the door closed behind the last one, Tobin flopped onto her back on the bed, utterly exhausted. Christen was still supporting Mal, asleep against her side, otherwise she would have been right there with her.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, before Christen’s insides started squirming uncomfortably, her heart aching. Just as she turned her head to see what was going on with her true mate, a sob left Tobin’s mouth.

“Tobin? Baby, what’s wrong?”

Her alpha didn’t respond, save the distinct and constant sound of crying coming from her mouth. Christen yearned to comfort her, but she didn’t want to wake Mal, either.

With all the silence and calmness she could give she ever so gently laid Mal down on the bed, resting her head on a pillow and waiting a few tense seconds to see if the young one would stir. As soon as she was satisfied Mal was okay, Christen raced to gather Tobin in her arms, moving them to the other bed so as not to disturb Mal.

“I’m here, I’m here.” Christen purred, soothing her voice as much as she could as she enveloped Tobin in loving pheromones, feeling her mate bury her nose in the mating mark on her neck.

It was hard for Christen to see Tobin like this. Not because she expected her as an alpha to be strong all the time, but because she had a feeling she knew what this was about. They were true mates, bonded by something deeper than a usual connection. Sometimes when their emotions were so strong they could feel each other’s.

And right now, Christen was feeling guilt rolling off Tobin in waves.

“It’s not your fault this happened to Mal. You didn’t know what they were going to do to her, how could you have known? It’s so messed up that the federation would do this, of course it wouldn’t have crossed your mind. You left the choice to Mal, and you didn’t know. You couldn’t have stopped it. Don’t blame yourself, my love.”

Tobin just buried her head in Christen’s neck more at this, trying to let her words sink into her and become her truth. She felt sick at what Mal had been through today. They didn’t even know what US Soccer had actually done to her, what they’d given her. But just the thought of it, the thought that Mal had been forced to take something she didn’t want to, that it had messed her body up so much, that she was so _frightened_.

Tobin should have protected her. She should have known better. She’s an alpha, that’s her job. And she let her down. She let a little pup down.

“She can’t get hurt again. She can’t. I won’t be able to live with myself if she does.” Tobin eventually said after a long while of calming down. She felt Christen nod against her.

“She won’t. We know what’s going on now. No one has been in her corner before. But now, hopefully, it’ll be different.”

“It _will_ be. She needs us, Chris. She needs all of us.”

Christen looked across at the sleeping 17 year old in the bed beside them, her peaceful face looking younger than ever in sleep. She felt that pull to her again, the one of protectiveness, like she was their own pup. She knew Tobin did too.

There was nothing they wouldn’t do for her, now. And she almost relished the day US Soccer realized that, because they’d never lay a finger on Mal again.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! I've been considering this as an idea for a while. Would love to hear feedback :)


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